1971-'75 Alfa Romeo Montreal

The affordable exotic with the heart of a race car

Feature Article from Hemmings Motor News

Which ending would you pick for the following sentence? "You know, $25,000 seems like..."
A). "...an awful lot of money to pay for a rust-prone, high-maintenance, steel-roofed Alfa Romeo from the 1970s."
B.) "... not much to pay for a gorgeous, limited-production Italian exotic with a race-bred, four-cam, alloy V-8."
More than likely, the answer you're looking for is: C.) Both of the above. That pretty much sums up the conundrum of the lovely Montreal, Alfa Romeo's show car come to life. The car was born of a styling exercise unveiled at Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada, wedded with a 2,593cc alloy V-8 derived from the 2-liter unit developed for the Type 33 sports racer. Although Carrozzeria Bertone had originally envisaged a midships engine, as evidenced by the horizontal cooling vents, the V-8 was mounted in the nose, driving the rear wheels through a five-speed ZF gearbox.
The chassis was based on that of the volume-production 105-series Giulia, although the parts sharing was not extensive as at first might be thought; some Montreal components look like their Giulia counterparts, but are made of beefier materials.
Just under 4,000 Montreals were produced, and not one was exported to the United States. How many were brought into the U.S. and still exist is a matter of conjecture; a Web site maintained by enthusiast Bruce Taylor, whose book on the Montreal is to be published this year by Veloce, includes photos of more than 30 U.S. Montreals, while a register listed 76 cars as of March 1990.
As you might expect, parts and knowledgeable service can be difficult to come by. The V-8 is fed by Spica mechanical fuel injection, and its eight-plunger unit is not shared with the more common four-cylinder cars. Try shopping for a windshield, and you could find yourself enrolling in a crash course in Italian.
So what does the market think? Aside from a little run-up and correction about 15 years ago, values have been increasing steadily, which means that the Montreal's appeal has not extended much beyond its circle of ardent admirers, most of whom would probably identify themselves as dyed-in-the-wool Alfisti. The key to remember is that these prices apply only to cars that are in good condition, with complete service histories and a known chain of ownership. Potentially high costs for repair and maintenance, coupled with a relatively low ceiling on market values, make it all too easy for a collector to get upside-down in a Montreal.
Still, when you think about what else is available in the $25,000 to $30,000 price bracket, probably very few exotic, V-8 Italian GTs come to mind. Viewed that way, they still seem something of a bargain, and it's hard to imagine prices not holding steady for the foreseeable future.
One last word about the Montreal: For some reason, this car seems to be afflicted with more than the usual number of scam artists. Stories about non-existent Montreals offered at bargain-basement prices abound among the cognoscenti. Watch your step, make friends in the Alfa community, and take the time to find a good Montreal.

This article originally appeared in the July, 2008 issue of Hemmings Motor News.